Spirograph for the 21st Century

When I was a kid I loved my Spirograph set – I would spend hours creating all sorts of pretty patterns and shapes.  You may remember that before Christmas I ran a giveaway for the new Spirograph 3D Studio Set.  Well over the last week I’ve been introducing Monkey to one of my childhood loves but boy have things changed.  Our new set is Spirograph for the 21st Century!  We received the smaller Optical 3D Artist Set to review.

Spirograph for the 21st Century comes in the shape of the Optical 3D Artist Set aimed at children aged 5+.  Lets face it anyone over 5 is going to love this, I can definitely confirm that at least one 46-year-old has become slightly obsessed.

Anyway, back to the set. The Optical 3D Artist Set comes with 12 drawing wheels and 2 templates, some drawing paper, 1 3D effect dual colour pen, 4 flourescent marker pens, a pair of optical 3D glasses, a design book and sticker set.  The 3D glasses need 3 x LR44 batteries (these are included with the set).

Now forget all the modern technology for a moment, it was time for me to carry out some research so I was in a position to guide Monkey through the set.  Ok, I really, really wanted to play with it myself, before he took control!

First impressions, the plastic parts appear to be made of thicker plastic than I remember as a child, and seem more robust. The 2 templates have non slip feet on them which is an improvement on the Spirograph of the 1970’s but there is still a ‘knack’ to keeping the drawing wheels in the cogs.  I had to hold the template for Monkey whilst he got used to moving the wheels through the cogs.  I also had issues with this, so still room for improvement.

Monkey is struggling with writing at the moment, he can hold a pen really well, especially for a leftie but his actual pen control needs work.  I’m hoping that Spirograph for the 21st Century will help him with that, but in a really fun and creative way.

So what did he think?

He’s never seen anything like it, and it helped having 2 templates so I could demonstrate and he could have a go at the same time.  He needs to work on his technique, but he stuck with it and tried lots of different variations from the booklet.  Asked me to create things with him, for him.  He liked laying one colour over another so see what would happen to the patterns.  His face when he saw his final creations was wonderful.  Wow Mummy, this is good!  Yep, I agree.  But that’s not all Monkey.  Spirograph for the 21st Century is more than just drawing pretty patterns.

Time to try out the 3D glasses, they also have a built-in torch.

What do they do Mummy?  Try them on and see Monkey.

You’ll have to trust me on the 3D side of things, but the glasses really do give the drawings a three-dimensional feel which we all thought was cool.  Even Daddy P had to have a go.

The torch works wonders with the flourescent patterns and gives added enjoyment to this great set.

We’ve had a lot of fun over the last week and Spirograph is the sort of thing you can come back to over and over again.  The appeal never fades – trust me.

Priced at £14.99 (you can click on my Amazon affiliate link below if you want to buy one for yourself) this set really is going to be well used here and I can thoroughly recommend.

disclaimer:  we were sent this set in exchange for an honest review